Two Indians convicted of importing two packages of marijuana and unregulated CBD oil from the UK and Thailand had their Supreme Criminal Appeals Court plea rejected yesterday.
In the initial trial, they were in the dock alongside a third accomplice. A labourer was sentenced to 15 years behind bars, while a heavy truck driver and a cleaner received 10-year jail terms.
All three were fined BD10,000 each, and the High Criminal Court ordered the confiscation of the illicit substances and the deportation of the convicts following their time in prison.
The labourer and the heavy truck driver took to the appeals court to contest the ruling, but judges upheld the sentences.
They previously confessed to operating under the instructions of a man named ‘Ghulam’, who remains at large.
The court heard that the first package, containing 2.1kg of synthetic cannabinoids, arrived from the UK in September, and was flagged as suspicious during a Customs inspection.
In November, the second package with 1.7kg of marijuana arrived from Thailand. Officers of the Anti-Narcotics Directorate were able to link the two parcels, as they were both sent under the same name.
The next month, the first appellant came to collect the parcels and was arrested. During questioning, he stated that he was tasked with picking up the parcels and handing them over to another individual.
Under the supervision of police, he contacted the 34-year-old heavy vehicle driver who was next in the chain. The driver went to his residence to receive the package and was arrested.
According to his statement, he was working for Ghulam, who instructed him to take the parcel to a dead drop location in West Eker for collection by another man.
A meeting was set up with the third defendant, the 23-year-old cleaner, who was apprehended when he arrived at the dead drop location.
The defendants have also been found guilty of possessing morphine and methamphetamine (shabu).
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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